we'll build a city (that dreams for two)
by musicallyren
Summary: Nobody expects Erudite prodigy Clarke Griffin to choose Dauntless. Too bad she does. It may just end up being the worst decision of her life. Divergent AU. Eventual Bellarke.
1. free fall

Clarke Griffin wakes up on Choosing Day the most terrified she's ever been.

She knows she isn't the only one. Every sixteen year old in the city is facing the same decision today. But she still doesn't know where she belongs, because while the aptitude test can tell her where her mind would fit the best, it can't tell her where her heart would be happy. And while Clarke has many reasons to stay in Erudite, she also has many reasons to leave.

When she looks in the mirror that morning, all she can see is textbook Erudite and it makes her sick to her stomach.

Breakfast, as usual, is a quiet affair. Clarke isn't surprised, but she's still a little hurt. Ever since her father's death, there hasn't been much for her and her mother to talk about. And while she hoped things would be different today, she knows it would have been illogical to assume otherwise. Once their meal is finished, Clarke clears the table despite her mother's protest. She honestly doesn't mind- it will give her something to keep her mind off of the ceremony, off of the lingering fear that she'll make the wrong choice and-

She can't finish that thought. Instead, she washes the dishes, and rushes up to her room immediately after she's done. These are her final moments in her home, possibly her faction, and she'd much rather spend them in a place with happy memories. It's much better than sitting in awkward silence with her mother, at least.

Clarke sighs deeply as her eyes wander across the room. There are textbooks everywhere, and drawings. Her bed is still unmade from this morning and her backpack is lying haphazardly in the middle of the floor. She can't help the tears that swell in her eyes. This is… no, was her childhood bedroom. There's a knock outside the door, and Clarke knows.

It's time to say goodbye.

The Hub is huge, Clarke notices. She's seen it before, of course, in passing. But she's never been this close before, let alone inside the building. It only serves to remind her of everything that's changing today. Everything she might lose, and everything she might gain.

The building seems much bigger on the inside. If it weren't for the sea of blue sitting together, Clarke isn't sure she would even be able to find her faction. Not that it matters. All sixteen year olds must sit together, in reverse alphabetical order. She thinks it's cruel, denying all these kids a precious extra few minutes with their families, but she can't say she isn't relieved. At least this way she doesn't have to face her mother.

She sits between a blond Abnegation boy, who's name she doesn't know, and a Candor girl named Grace from her Faction History class. Clarke decides it doesn't matter. More often than not, people choose their faction of origin, and Clarke knows herself well enough to know that she isn't honest or selfless. At least, not enough to choose either faction as her home.

"Welcome, welcome." She's startled out of her thoughts by the voice of Thelonious Jaha, Erudite's leader. She's slightly surprised. Normally the opening Choosing Day speeches are left up to Abnegation's leader, the same leader that governs their city. She shrugs it off, and pays close attention as Jaha begins to recount the history of their city. It isn't anything she hasn't heard before, but it would be rude not to listen and it takes her mind off of the knot that's forming in her stomach. So she listens, waiting patiently through the insanely long list of names until it's her turn.

"Clarke Griffin."

She stands, her breath and her knees shaking, and makes her way to the stage. This is it. The choice she makes today, Clarke knows, will define her future. She has to choose carefully. Although her legs are shaking, she somehow manages to make her way up the steps, onto the stage. There are five bowls in front of her representing the five factions. It would be easy for her to choose Erudite, to go back to what she knows. It's what she tested as, after all. But in that moment, Clarke knows she can't, and before she knows it, she's sliced her palm and let her blood drip over the coals.

She's chosen Dauntless.

Clarke is seated with her new faction and has to force herself to pay attention to the ceremony instead of glancing where her mother is sitting.

She isn't exactly feeling guilty, per se. She knows she needed to leave, that she needs something different, but... Clarke also knows that she's the only person her mother had left, and now she's gone too. But at the same time, she's relieved. She's free now.

The rest of the ceremony passes quickly, and Clarke finds herself swept up in the excitement of her new faction. They're actually running, something Clarke's mother would have told her is unladylike and she's actually allowed to join in. She stops for the briefest of seconds to kick off her heels, and she runs. She knows what's going to happen next, has seen the Dauntless do it thousands of times, but this is her first time and she isn't sure if she's terrified or excited or both.

Sure enough, they run and jump onto the trains one by one. Clarke is one of the last to go, and for one heart stopping second, thinks she isn't going to make it, thinks she's going to fail, become factionless. But she does it, she takes the leap, grabs on to the railing of the door and pulls herself into the train. She collapses on to the floor, laughing until she can't breathe.

"Bet you've never done anything like this before." Clarke looks up, eyes wide, to see a Dauntless girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes. "The name's Octavia. What's yours?" The girl- Octavia offers her hand.

"No, I haven't." Clarke agrees, still somewhat out of breath, as she takes Octavia's hand and stands. "I'm Clarke." Octavia grins.

"Nice to meet you, Clarke." Octavia peers out the open door, at the building approaching, and laughs. "The fun's not over yet." And with a smirk, Octavia and the others in the train jump out and onto the roof below.

Clarke doesn't even think, knows she doesn't have time, and jumps after them. As she soars through the air, she wonders if this is what dying is like, and then she hits the ground. She's vaguely aware of a stinging sensation, possibly the gravel digging into her skin, but she's laughing too damn hard to care.

"Initiates! Listen up!" She standing, dusting herself off when the voice calls out. It's a man, tall and muscular, bald and tattooed, standing on the opposite ledge of the building. She might find him attractive if she didn't find him so intimidating. "My name is Lincoln! I am one of your leaders!" He clears his throat and continues. "There is only one way into Dauntless!" He gestures behind him, to the large hole between buildings and Clarke swears her heart stopped for a second. "If you don't have the guts to jump, we don't want you here! As usual, I will offer the opportunity to go first to our initiates!" His eyes meet hers, cold and calculating. "Who wants to go first?!"

It's silent for what feels like forever, before Clarke steps forward.

"I will."

She makes her way to the ledge, the other initiates (mostly Dauntless born, Clarke notices) clearing the way for her. She steps onto the ledge, taking a deep breath. Before she can think about, change her mind, Clarke forces herself to jump.

This falling is different than falling onto the roof. She's falling down, towards god knows what, but she doesn't have time to contemplate it because she lands. Into a net. She takes a second, to catch her breath, take in her surroundings, before she rolls off. Almost immediately, Clarke feels herself falling again- obviously she's misjudged the distance between the net and the ground- and falls straight into someone's arms.

"Better watch your step, Princess." A deep voice warns, and Clarke can feel herself blushing. "Welcome to Dauntless."


	2. new beginnings

"You have a name?" Clarke doesn't even have time to respond before he asks her this. He stares at her for about half a second before Clarke remembers, oh yeah, he was talking to her.

"Clarke." She responds as he sets her down. "My name is Clarke Griffin."

"First jumper, Clarke!" He bellows as he ushers her off the platform, and signals up at the sky. As soon as he does, she notices, another person jumps down, landing in the net much more gracefully than Clarke thinks she did.

"Finally." The man mutters as Octavia rolls off the net with ease. "Thought you were going first?"

"I changed my mind." Octavia grins as she saunters off the platform, standing next to Clarke.

They stand there for what seems like forever, watching the other initiates join them one by one, until everybody's on the ground, initiates and Lincoln.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." The man from before shouts. "My name is Bellamy Blake, and this" He gestures to the man standing beside him "is Commander Shumway. Normally we work with the guard, but for the next month or so, we'll be your initiation instructors." He glowers at the crowd.

"Dauntless born initiates." He addresses those dressed in black. "You will be training with Commander Shumway. Tranfers." He nods in her general direction. "You'll be with me."

The crowd disperses, each group seeking out their respective instructor.

"Initiates." Bellamy's cold eyes scan the group in front of him. "Since you're all transfers, you get the _privilege_" he sneers "of a tour. I suggest you pay attention, if you miss something, I won't go over it again."

"Who peed in his cereal this morning?" The boy next to her, an Amity transfer with goggles resting on his head, murmurs as the group begins to slowly trudge after Bellamy. Clarke bites back a giggle.

"Don't let him hear you say that." She teases. "I'm Clarke."

"Jasper." He grins, and elbows the boy next to him, also an Amity transfer. "This is Monty."

"Hi." Monty grins and waves at her, and Clarke returns the smile. She knows that this is the exception rather than the rule, that most of the other initiates won't be this friendly, but at least she isn't completely alone.

The dorms are the last place they visit on the tour, after the Pit and the Chasm. The dorms are bare, with only rows of beds and the open bathroom off to the side. There's no privacy, and while it makes her uncomfortable, she's much too proud to say anything about it. On each bed is a set of clothes.

"It's five o'clock right now." Bellamy announces. "I expect you all to be dressed and in the mess hall for dinner at five thirty, no exceptions. Am I clear?" There are nods and murmurs of assent all over the room. Satisfied, Bellamy leaves, shoulder checking Clarke on his way out.

It infuriates her, and Clarke decides then and there that Bellamy Blake is a grade A asshole.

She changes quickly, into a pair of black jeans, a black t-shirt and matching jacket. Standard Dauntless attire. She walks to dinner with Monty and Jasper, and two other transfer initiates, Finn and Raven.

Miraculously, the five of them manage to find an empty table away from the crowd.

"So, Erudite, huh?" Finn asks, picking at his hamburger. "Why'd you choose Dauntless?" Clarke shrugs in response.

"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing." She admits. "What about you? Why'd you leave Amity?" Clarke is honestly shocked at the amount of Amity-Dauntless transfers this year, not that she'd ever say it out loud. Finn laughs, startling Clarke out of her thoughts.

"I was a troublemaker." He smirks, and Clarke laughs because, yeah, she can see that. "It was either leave or fail initiation and become factionless."

"Initiates." Bellamy's voice is hard and the entire group is silent as the stands at the foot of the table. His arms are crossed and he's glaring at the group as if they're very existence is personally offending him. "I don't want to hear another word about your old factions. You're Dauntless now, and if you expect to make it through initiation in one piece, you'd better remember that." His voice is hard. "Am I clear?" Clarke frowns.

"I don't think it's any of your business what we talk about." She responds before she can talk herself out of it and everyone at the table turns to stare at her, eyes wide.

"If I wanted to deal with smart mouthed little girls," he starts, and his eyes darken, "I would have chosen Candor. Which from the looks of it is where people who mouth off to their superiors belong." He quirks an eyebrow, but Clarke doesn't flinch, doesn't move. "But since you're new here, I'll let you off with a warning. Next time I won't be so nice." He walks away, and Clarke is glaring at his back. Initiation instructor or not, she thinks, he really has no right butting into other people's business.

"Wow." Raven is the one to break the silence. "Someone needs to get the log out of his ass." The entire table bursts into laughter, but Clarke's attention is elsewhere. She meets Bellamy's eyes and looks away. He doesn't matter, she thinks. There is no reason to let him get under her skin.

The rest of dinner is pleasant. Lincoln makes a speech, welcoming this year's initiates, and Clarke is swept up in the excitement, so much that she almost forgets her unpleasant encounter with Bellamy. But of course, it's in the back of her mind the whole night. She's met plenty of jerks in Erudite, Marcus Kane being the most notable, but Bellamy takes the cake, she thinks.

She forces herself to stop thinking about it. There's a celebration with music and alcohol, though she doesn't know why, seeing as initiates aren't allowed to drink. Clarke finds herself in a dance circle, with Finn and Raven and Monty and Jasper. Her friends. It amazes her, how free she is. She still can't quite believe it. In Erudite, she'd be knee deep in textbooks by now.

By the time they make it to the dorms, she's exhausted. At some point, someone must have been in here, on the beds are pajamas and boxes that Clarke assumes are for storing clothes. She changes silently, though her muscles are dragging. Her bed is between Raven and Monty, and she wishes them both goodnight, and climbs into bed.

_'I think I like it here'_ is her last thought before she falls asleep.


End file.
